


deal with the devil

by EagleOfTheNinth



Category: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Genre: Dark, Gen, Spoilers for 'The Future Is Hope'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-22
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-12-21 01:29:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/894190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EagleOfTheNinth/pseuds/EagleOfTheNinth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would you be willing to do, for a chance at life?</p>
            </blockquote>





	deal with the devil

This is how it happened; a tiny space under rubble, dark, suffocating. A girl of fourteen weeping and shaking. Unable to believe what is happening to her.

She is pretty, this girl, wholesome to look at, with sandy hair and freckles dusting the bridge of her nose and bright, intelligent eyes. They are red and swollen now.

It is dark, and nobody will come to rescue her; this girl is going to die.

* * *

_That one is too old. That one, too young. That one’s heart is full already. Too foolish, too honourable, too wild-ah!_ That _one._

_This is the child we will use._

* * *

There is someone else in the darkness with the dying girl. They do not make a single sound, they do not stir the air with breathing. Their body does not give off any warmth, even, that a person might feel.

But they are there. And the girl is aware of this, in the way people have of noticing such things, against all logic. Even before they speak, their voice genderless, ageless, soundless, a written text of a voice crawling across the surface of her mind-

**_Would you like to live?_ **

The girl knows that voices in one’s head are more likely to be madness than magic, and in either case are to be feared. Still-she is dying. There is little room left in her for fear of the fal’Cie or of the lunatic asylum. So she does not question the voice, just sobs, throat raw, and thinks, _Yes. Yes of course I want to live. Of course..._

 ** _There is a deal I can offer you,_** says the voice. **_There is a girl who is known to you; she will survive this. Your name will be written on a grave. She will visit it. But I can make it happen the other way around._**

The girl thinks of her friend, the friend she had gone to visit; if only she had stayed home. _You can make it so she dies, and I live...?_

She thinks of her friend’s laugh, her smile, the bright red barrettes binding up her long brown hair. She thinks of all that their friendship has meant to her, how much she has valued it.

And then she thinks of dying, alone, here, a forsaken thing, dying slowly, cold and afraid and in pain. She thinks of all the plans she had had for her life, and how they will never now be put into practise.

Her friend, she tells herself, could not seriously expect her to refuse this chance. If indeed it is a chance, and not just a death-dream-

 _Yes,_ the girl thinks to the other person. _I’ll take the deal. Make me alive again._

 ** _There is one other condition._** The voice in her mind is as neutral as before. Inhuman, perhaps. **_Your obedience. I have a use for you._**

The girl’s heart stutters- _Are you a fal’Cie?_ she asks. _Are you going to make me a l’Cie?_

 ** _You will not be branded,_** says the voice. **_You will not receive magic. You could say if you wish that I am setting you a Focus. I prefer to think that we are making a bargain. Do what is required of you, and you will live as long and well as any other human._**

_And if I don’t do what is required of me-_

**_Then you will find yourself back here._ **

She’s still not sure that this is not all a hallucination. But she is an opportunist. _What would you want me to do?_

**_There is/was/will be a man. He is an obstacle to me. I wish for you to destroy him._ **

_You mean kill him?_ The girl is not a fighter. She has never lifted a weapon.

 ** _No. He must not be killed-that would attract unwelcome notice...I want you to become close to him, and destroy his works. Sabotage every plan he makes. See that all he does comes to nothing. Destroy his dreams...destroy his hopes._** The voice almost sounds amused for a second. **_See to it that nothing he does will work as he wishes it, or as he thinks it will be. I will instruct you as to how._**

_Who is he?_

**_His name is Hope Estheim. For now, that is all you need to know._ **

_...Who are_ you _?_

**_I am the person offering you this deal. Take it or leave it._ **

The girl hesitates, just a little, and pain stabs through her again. _I’ll take it._

_I’ll do it._

_I’ll do anything._

_Just, please...let me live._

* * *

 

The girl did not die there, after all.

Though it would have been better for a great many people-herself included-if she had.


End file.
